Grapnel anchors have long been used by commercial fishermen but are not popular with sport fishermen or pleasure boaters. The typical grapnel has a multiplicity of fixed arms. Due to the limited space on sports fishing and pleasure boats and the desire to store their anchors flat and near the bow, Danforth and other types of anchors which can be stored flat against the forward deck of most sports fishing and medium sized pleasure boats are the choice of most boat builders and owners.
On both grassy and hard coral sea bottoms however Danforth and similar plow-type anchors do not hold as well as multi-fluked grapnel anchors. Additionally I have found that the typical grapnel often does not provide sufficient holding power.